
Man Files Motion to Withdraw Criminal Sexual Conduct Plea
ST. CLOUD (WJON News) -- A St. Cloud man has filed a motion to withdraw his guilty plea of 3rd-degree criminal sexual conduct for having intercourse with a runaway girl.
Thirty-three-year-old Robert Bernard is asking a judge to withdraw his plea saying he was under duress when agreeing to plead guilty last July.
A motion hearing on the matter is set for March 12th.
According to the charges Bernard went with the girl to a North St. Cloud apartment building and had sexual intercourse with her.
The victim later told police that more than one man sexually assaulted her while she and another girl were runaways. The other man charged in the case is 26-year-old Andre Sudor Jr. Sudor pleaded guilty to the same charge on January 21st.
Police made contact with Bernard at an apartment in the 500 block of 8th Avenue South the morning of May 5th after the second runaway girl had called police to report the incidents.
The victim was found the following day and gave a statement to the police about the assaults.
Court records allege Bernard admitted to having intercourse with the victim but said she told him that she was 19 years old and the other girl said she was 18 years old.
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